Abstract

MPANZA, Mbalenhle; ADAM, Elhadi  and  MOOLLA, Raeesa. Perceptions of external costs of dust fallout from gold mine tailings: West Wits Basin. Clean Air J. [online]. 2020, vol.30, n.1, pp.1-12. ISSN 2410-972X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/caj/2020/30/1.7566.

Mining is essential for the South African economy, just like in many developing African nations. In 2017, mining was reported to contribute 6.8 % to the South African GDP and provided more than 460 000 jobs. Though the sector adds an enormous amount of value to the country, its activities have significant impacts on the environment and the socio-economic factors of society. The environmental impact of mining operations includes air pollution from dust and the well-documented impact on water resources in the form of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), creation of sinkholes and pollution of agricultural soils. Dust remains a persistent problem in South African urban areas due to the climatic conditions, extensive surface quarrying, unrehabilitated tailings storage facilities and mineral processing. However, very little is reported on the social and economic costs that accrue due to poor ecological management. Some scholars assert that despite the Mine Health and Safety Act, deposition monitoring guidelines and national dust regulations, South Africa still experiences persistent dust problems, especially in coal and gold mining districts. This paper investigates the perceptions of society on the effect of gold production dust pollution in and around a gold mining village (hereinafter referred to as the "gold mining village") in South Africa. A mixed method was used, where a questionnaire and interviews were conducted to examine the gold mining village perceptions on dust pollution and their socio-economic environment. This paper further examines perceptions on how poor and pre-mature mine closure through liquidation results in unrehabilitated mine tailings and how this has significant impacts on the quality of life of individuals and surrounding businesses. The community being investigated in this study perceives the dust fallout impact to be a threat on their living conditions. The paper finds that the community believes it incurs medical and financial expenses due to treating respiratory-related diseases triggered by dust fallout.

Keywords : Mine liquidation; mine closure; environment; dust; socio-economic costs; perceptions.

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